The blog's editor follows through on this mornings's reports at the
ineptitude of George Osborne in upstaging a very carefully
constructed speech from his leader.
He's not up to the job - surely Cameron will have to act even if they
are close friends.
XXXXXX CS
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CONSERVATIVE HOME Blog 21.3.09
George Osborne hit by quadruple whammy
24 hours ago ConservativeHome expressed disappointment at George
Osborne's change of position on the 45p tax band. Four leading
centre right commentators have now joined the chorus of concern...
> Fraser Nelson in the News of the World (not yet online but
previewed at The Spectator)
THE 45p TAX HIKE MAY RAISE "NOTHING"
"Right now, the richest 1 per cent pay 23 per cent of all income tax
collected. They pay their fair share - and the fair share of 22 other
people. When the tax rate rises too much, the rich just bugger off.
We saw this in the seventies. But as Tory peer told me: "Those too
young to remember the seventies are destined to repeat its mistakes".
Yesterday George Osborne now said Brown's proposed 45p tax on the
rich is "difficult to avoid". Difficult if you have no imagination.
Experts say this proposed 45p tax will raise NOTHING. Because the
super-rich will emigrate, or work less. Just like in the 70s."
> Iain Martin in The Sunday Telegraph
A 45p TAKE RATE WILL FRIGHTEN INVESTORS AND WEALTH CREATORS
" Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said that a 45p band was "not
economically sensible". He is dead right. It will raise little - £2
billion, in the Government's view, or nothing at all, according to
others. But the message that it will send to potential overseas
investors and to the wealth-creators whose efforts will be needed to
power us to economic recovery is a profoundly damaging one."
> Iain Dale on his blog earlier today
GEORGE OSBORNE IS INVITING THE ARGUMENT FOR A 50p TAX BAND AND WORSE
"If you need to raise revenue from top earners why stop at a 5p rise?
Hasn't the position significantly worsened since November? Using the
logic of the argument, you could easily make the case for a 50p rate."
> Peter Hoskin on Coffee House (raising, for me, the most worrying
aspect of all of this)
ALLOWING LABOUR TO SET THE TERMS OF DEBATE
"One of the more frustrating aspects of the Cameron leadership is how
its strategy is sometimes (overly) determined by what Labour will do
or say. Take what was their long-standing commitment to match
Labour's spending plans. This was made in fear of the "Tory cuts"
attack, and ensured that the New Labour orthodoxy - that "spending =
investment" - remained in place long past its use-by date... Why
mention this now? Well, there's a similar air about George Osborne's
statement on a 45p tax rate yesterday. When this measure was
announced in the PBR, it seemed little more than cyincal Brownite
ploy to put the Tories in a spot. Cameron 'n' Osborne should have
steered well clear but, instead, they've dived straight into Brown's
trap."
Tim Montgomerie
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